


In Truth, I am The Least

by JyaGhost



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 05:59:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6067786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JyaGhost/pseuds/JyaGhost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spoilers for Season 4. Teyla shares a secret with someone in the city.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Truth, I am The Least

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Cost of the Crown" by Mercedes Lackey.

~~~~

To be their leader was one thing.

To possess the ability to sense the Wraith was another.

To be part Wraith was something else entirely.

What was considered a Gift from the Ancestors was revealed as a lie. No one wanted to be with a woman who may one day give birth to monsters through no fault of her own.

The Atlanteans possessed medical technology capable of giving a woman a child with nothing more needed from a man than his seed, spilled into a cup.

She took her time, weighing the pros and the cons.

Weighed waiting for love against her age.

Weighed her people's unspoken prejudice against the uncaring mass of Atlantis.

~~~~ 

She questioned Dr. Beckett, confiding in him more than any other person in her life.

Her decision was selfish, and she never humored herself that it wasn't.

The list was arranged, not by friendship, but by who she thought would give her what she wanted and nothing more.

The idea of a ‘one night stand’ as Laura called them, had appeal very, very briefly.

The visiting Colonel was kind and strong. A night's pleasure, and the latex sheath he discarded at the end would give her what she needed. He would never need to know, if she timed things carefully enough.

But Cameron Mitchell wasn't the type of man who could simply fall into bed with a stranger. Nor was Daniel Jackson, who proved to be as gentle and wise as Elizabeth described.

Carson could not. He loved Laura, loved the idea of raising a family together, either on Atlantis or back on Earth. She would not interfere with her friends' happiness.

Asking Rodney wasn't a consideration. Too much a brother to her, and deeply in love with Katie, though he'd never admit to it outright.

In the frantic hours before her people left Atlantis for what they believed was the last time, she considered John.

Overhearing him on the balcony with the man they simply referred to as O'Neill proved that John could not sire children. He'd chosen a surgical procedure to avoid fatherhood.

There was no chance of building a life with Ronon. For several months, he and Elizabeth had been dancing around each other. He'd never walk away from a child of his.

Nor would Radek walk away. Funny and sweet, the little Czech scientist abhorred children. But she was certain that the first time he held his own babe in his arms, he would be helpless with love. They shared only a passing affection for each other, when he deserved a wife who would adore him. No, not Radek.

Several of the Marines, those who came through the Gate under Colonel Sumner and remained in the city, were considered. But gossip ran rampant, and they would always wonder.

In the end, the decision was simple. She often questioned herself as to why she‘d never thought of him before.

Perhaps because they barely knew each other; he was, if possible, even less social than John.

Brave. Strong. Kind. Wise in his own way. Creative, as she was told her mother was, though she inherited none of it.

With the good there is bad. He was as sarcastic as Rodney, as stubborn as Ronon. She couldn't imagine sharing a child with him simply because she didn't, deep in her heart, believe he'd say yes to her.

She didn't try to trick him, as she would have that Colonel or Dr. Jackson.

She spoke to him alone, on a balcony that everyone avoided simply because he'd staked it out as his territory.

She didn’t hedge around the subject, she asked him directly.

Several days later, he answered her.

The extraction procedure was quick. While she didn't fully understand the science, she had several days to prepare herself mentally, as her body prepared physically for implantation.

Carson did not live to see her children placed in her womb.

Kate gathered her now fertilized eggs and placed them in stasis, hid away Carson's notes and documents.

Wounded and grieving, she watched the father of her children carry her dearest friend home to his beloved Scotland.

By the time her injuries healed, she was past the point where she could safely begin her pregnancy. Her children waited.

With Elizabeth's loss, she went to Kate and prepared herself. Only two of her precious eggs survived implantation, and began to thrive.  
Then the nightmare creature took Kate away, and there was no one who could share her joy.

She’d made a promise that she and the father would be no more than working acquaintances, and she’d stand behind it. Temporary loneliness was a small price to pay for the lives her body sheltered.

It wasn't Jennifer Keller's fault that she was wrong about the children's conception time. It isn't common knowledge that Athosian women are pregnant for closer to eleven months than nine.

John was furious when he learned her secret, and she could suddenly see why he'd chosen to never place himself in the position of being responsible for a child's birth.

Ronon congratulated her with a sweet smile, Rodney with books from his sister.

Only once did a pair of blue eyes reach across the mess hall and acknowledge her news. She wondered if he believed the fiction she'd told or if he knew the babes she carried were his.

He kept his silence, and she kept hers. Even on the day she crushed Ronon and John's hands in pain, Rodney rubbing her swollen stomach and encouraging her to breathe, Evan Lorne's name never crossed her lips.


End file.
